Bockelman resigns after 22 years on Pocono Mountain school board

Pocono Mountain School District lost one of its longest-tenured school board members Wednesday when former board President Henry Bockelman resigned.

MICHAEL SADOWSKI

Pocono Mountain School District lost one of its longest-tenured school board members Wednesday when former board President Henry Bockelman resigned.

Bockelman, on the board for 22 years, announced his departure via a letter during Wednesday night's school board meeting.

He did not attend the meeting, and cited only "personal reasons" for his resignation.

Reached by phone Thursday, Bockelman said he didn't want to elaborate but thought his time on the board had come to an end.

"I think I did right by the people that elected me," he said. "I'm not a quitter, but I just thought this seemed like the time to take a step back. Nobody is irreplaceable."

Bockelman's term ends in December 2013. The board is looking to fill the position immediately through November's election.

The retired Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department officer sat on the board through its period of high growth in the 1990s and early 2000s.

He served as president from 2007 to 2011 during some of its darkest times when it laid off hundreds of employees, slashed the district budget and watched as enrollment swiftly declined.

The district has gone from 11,775 students in 2004-05 to 9,814 students as of Oct. 1 this year, a loss of almost 17 percent of its students.

"We were projected to have 16,000 students by now," Bockelman said. "Obviously, that never materialized. We have empty buildings we never thought we'd have. We never thought we'd be losing students and laying off employees. But we will survive and go on."

The district divides its voting districts into three regions broken up by municipalities.